If you are heading out to the 'graveyard' or similar like many of those charters do you will be 'straylining' with 32oz of lead. It depends where the charter is going but for a typical Kaipara charter I would at least prepare a couple of 6/0 2 hook ledger rigs (personally I would use circle hooks on that rig) in 80lb mono with a big handful of 12oz sinkers ready to put on the bottom. Maybe 2 or 3 at a time in the heavy tides. In that style of fishing there is not much advantage to going light so think heavy and get your baits glued to the bottom. That also means that your favourite 6kg braid softbait rod may not be ideal. A decent 10kg set should be OK but preferably not on a long soft rod.

As I said, it depends on what the charter is planning to do but if you don't have any better info I suggest do as above and don't think I am kidding about the amount of lead needed. Take just a couple of 4 oz sinkers to the graveyard and you probably won't catch very much unless you are there over slack water.

Thanks tagit, I had heard 30oz of weight was needed but I wasn’t 100% sure if the rumour was true. I’ve got two rod and reel options. 8000D baitrunner on a 6-10kg or a big baitrunner with 50lb braid and a pe3-5 stickbait rod. What would you suggest? I’m tempted to use ledgers only as I can’t really get my head around strayling with 30oz of lead.

I think you are maybe confusing straylining with what is called a running rig (or similar). Straylining is generally when you are floating unweighted or lightly weighted baits back behind the boat and is hard to do on charters with so many lines in the water. It also doesn't work in deep heavy currents when harbour fishing like you will probably be doing. Often when straylining the small sinker is right on top of the hook(s).

A running rig is where the sinker is above the swivel and the main line can run through the sinker when the fish picks up the bait. Your baitrunner function would work well with that style of fishing.

I would probably use your 10kg set if it has 10kg line on it. 6kg line will be too light for a charter situation where an out of control fish can tangle multiple lines. On a charter you are asked to keep your fish under decent control unless it is too large to do so. Nothing worse than losing fishing time all day due to tangles with people who aren't fishing properly. The stickbait rod will probably be too long to be comfortable to use on a crowded boat.

We run charters out of Westhaven and having observed a lot of charter fishing that I expect is similar to what you will be doing I would really recommend that you tie say 3 x 2 hook ledgers with 6/0 circle hooks (put the hook through the bait only once so you don't fill the hook gape and don't strike until the rod loads up properly - don't strike at nibbles). You could easily loose a couple of rigs if the sharks turn up so spare rigs ready to go are good. I would also prepare a couple of short (say 500 - 600mm) traces for a running rig as sometimes the fish bite better on these in heavy current. The skipper will probably tell you which to try first.

Take the big bait runner with the braid. I would use either a running rig or a dropper rig. 8\0 circle hooks on a two hook dropper rig with enough weight to keep you on the bottom would be my pick. If conditions are good and you fish the grave yard you will need to be prepared with plenty of weight. 24 to 32 oz may be required but with braid you may get by with less. Take both rods anyway

I was at Shelley beach a week or two ago and watched as a heap of fisherman left one of the charters. They had been out since 4am and this was lunchtime on return. All had healthy bins of snapper/Kahawai and a few got some just legal Kingies to boot.

Snapper were decent pannie but lots of them, take lots of bait. Mullet preferable in Harbour. But if you get an early Kahawai chuck some fresh baits on your ledgers.

Enjoy Graveyard is a great spot controlled by the weather.

Conditions should be great for you.

Why choose either diving or fishing when you can do both. Besides crayfish tail is very good bait!!

Thanks for the tips fellas, just swung by my local top catch to pick up some lead and mullet. Weather is looking favourable for Saturday and I can’t wait!

On another note, don’t mean to change tack of the topic but I see the defence force aren’t allowing people to fish up the top of Muriwai beach anymore? haven’t been up there for a while but are people still fishing it? I’ve caught good fish there over the years. Was my secret no so secret spot. Bummer if that’s the case!

I went out there a couple weeks ago on the kaipara cat charter and it was awesome, Tony the owner was awesome and always moved to a different spot when it went quiet.

We used 16oz sinkers an were getting to the bottom no problem, we fished the graveyard that day and it was a bit of a hit an miss but apparently when its booming it goes off.

Bait to take is mullet & squid imo. leave any soft bait at home like your pilles etc etc. I took two rods out with me my thunnus 1200 with carbolite 10-15kg rod and my 4000 thunnus shadowx 5-10kg. After awhile i got sick of pulling in the weight of the sinker so out came the baby model with a 4oz sinker and surprisingly I was catching more fish then majority of people, it did take a while to get to the bottom but it drifted out a bit further then everyone else's so no tangles haha .

Hey sassy, not sure what boat we are on yet will probably find out tomorrow, there is only 10 of us going so hoping there will be plenty of space! Will def be taking both sets. Wonder if it’s worth taking a few stick baits and throwing them round the front if everyone’s fishing the back...

Just got back from me trip off kaipara cat with Tony, good dude. Kept moving until we found the fish. 4 spots later and right at the end of the day as always! We found the fish. Ended up at the entrance on the potu side in 8m of water. Last cast and I managed a 7lb snap! Bites were getting better when we had to leave. Mullet and kahawai seemed to be the baits today. Lots of tide and tangles... With 8 of us fishing and a few others sick/hungover we managed a good bin of snaps and kahawai between us. Enough for a good feed and an enjoyable day on the water. Cheers

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